The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1887-06-02
a LADY SPEAKS.
My Grandfather and His Side
board.
To the Editor of the Statesman

men anu women VINO cannot DOa5t OF a
southern grandfather and his hospitable
side-board. 1 pity them, for they can
never know the height and depth, the
length and breadth of whole souled hospi-
tality and good cheer that sparkled and
dubbed and overlooked, gladdened and
made happy the honest hearts of fifty
years ago. Not for diadem would ex-
change the recollection of my noble old
grandfather, a whole souled southern gen.
tleman; how love to think of him. can
see him now as he came slowly down the long
avenue of cedars to meet me when came
bounding in childhood glee from school
TO spend the night with grandfather"
Twice a week 1t was understood that was
to stay with him. He was always at the
big gate" or on his way to open it for
me. can never forget that dear honest
face as 1t beamed upon me from under
his broad hat. How lovingly he
would fold me to his warm heart
then take me by the hand and lead me in
to light his pipe. We would chat of
school, the farm, the little pony he was rails
ing for me, until a neighbor would ride up
on "old dobbin," then the whole souled
southern welcome began, the hearty shake
of the hand, the friendly lest about the
crops, the babies, how much cloth my
wife had made, when the preacher would
come, etc. until the recollection of the
side board brought my grandfather to
his feet: well, neighbor, come up and
try some of my good old peach-just
brought it from the cellar to-day--it is
some l have left standing for ten. years;
no use for medicine or doctor with such
a healthful stimulant. Doctor! why 1 have
not had doctor for five years. You need
some extra hands tomorrow! All right;
how many will you want? By.the-way,
send your wagon over filled with hamp-
ers for some fruit; fine fruit this year;
your trees are young; you are perfectly
welcome to all you will send for.
want you to try my new flour,
too; sent new wheat to mill last
week, will put a sack in the wagon
for your good wife to make bread of.
Nothing was too good III those days for
neighbor--a COW and calf-a pair of fat
pigs, jars of honey, everything raised on
the farm except cotton, was often used as
friendly gift. Dear, generous old men,
little did they think to what straits their
posterity would be brought by the demon
of fanaticism, and | am sure the thought
of distilling ones own peaches and grapes
ever becoming felony could not possibly
have entered those honest, innocent
minds. The lsms and sisms of the past
forty years had not seen the light of day.
In the frozen New England" states the
germ no doubt slumbered, waiting for the
sanctided female crusaders to warm it in
to life and show to the world the power of
guided by envy and fanaticlsm. Neither
did it enter into the minds of our grand
fathers that he slaves they cared for
as members of their families would
ever become the idols of those phi
lanthropic New Englanders, and their
Christian duty to rob their grandchildren
of their lawful Inheritance. That, first of
all, the American isms originated in the
brains of yankee schoOlmarms. Every
letter written home told of how the poor
blacks were treated, and how lazy south
ern women were-"did nothing but sit
around, with dozen poor blacks to wat
upon them" The philanthrophy of abo-
liitoni9m was born of envy of the south.
The cloud at first was no bigger than a
hand" but Harriet Beecher Stowe, the
schoOlmarms and men who longed for
power and notoriety, helped to spread
and blacken 1t until it settled in midnight
darkness over this once prosperous and
happy country, and the terrible cyclone
of fanaticism swept away constitutional
liberty, robbed US of our property, desc
lated our homes, killed our fathers,
brothers and sons for daring to defend
their rights, opened Pandora's box and
hn al nyil g b.
world overflow US until statesmen
began to ask where will it end?
Let the abolitioni5ts of to-day ask them.
selves if they fully counted the cost of
freeing an inferior race at the expense of
a superior one-let them think of the
of slain on both sides, of pros
porous country desolated, of women and
hungry and homeless, of the fire
and bloodshed, of four years of civil war,
and answer the question truly, if it was
not a dear whistler" And, when the
United States government is shaken to it's
let them trace the cause to the |
of the constitution in 1861, and |
the wholesale robbery of the southern
people. 1t was not until the principles of |
our honest grandfathcrs were trampled |
u pm ohN VhSii hOo pAldolO uo-
that "bar rooms," the great eye
sore, in every city and village, fourished.
| can only remember two bar rooms in a
town of 1000 people, when 1
was child. Southern people kept pure
brandy and wine always in their
homes: they we're far healthier than we
are to-day, for they did not poison them
selves and their families with deadly
drugs. Doctors did not grow rich in few
years. Our grandmothers were skilled in
the use of garden herbs, and good pure
brandy filled the place of quinlne, NOR
nhine and choral All good citizens re-
greet to see our cities filled with bar
'OOms, but remember they are the out
growth of radical rule. The license was
ow, that the radical party might have
heap whisky to buy the votes of our
ormer slaves. Think of it, ye holy cru
of how and why bad
whisky flows like water in the south. 1t
5 too late to cry out we only want to
lose the barrooms. Every evil from
which the south now suffers is the out
growth of Gankel fanaticism. Rouse, !
men of the south, we are no longer
eparate people. We have lost our in.
livlduality, but we have the principles of
'ur grandfathers and the noble examples :
If our home-loving and God-fearing .,
Let US cling to these !
principles; We want no more New England ,